Scenic base work begins

 It has seemed like ages since I’ve done any scenery work, and the opportunity to do some was quickly taken up. I’m working on the right hand module to start with. There’s really nothing new in how I’m doing this, but a quick recap might help refresh my memory. 

I begin with the plan that I originally came up with. The scenery finishes with the layout edge, so the most important part is the contour of the boards that I’ve already completed. They determine the steepness of the land as it falls away from the track, or indeed the height of the hill that the track may cut through. Along the way I have adjusted them to better work with the backscene that I’ve done the basic landforms on already.

On my previous layout the process was as follows:

1. Stick plastic bags to the underside of the ply base to the scenic board. Then support this with screwed up newspaper taped to the baseboard to support the plastic, this part needs to be manipulated to the shape landform you are wanting.

2. Cover this with tissues in strips, then soak them with watered down pva, dappling with a one inch brush to keep things looking flat.

3. Wait for the above step to dry, up to a few days, 😩. Then mix up the sculptamold, and layer this directly over the tissue/pva shell, contouring as necessary.

I did this religiously for the majority of Splitters, then when completing the new base around the Loco shed, it all changed. I simply completed step 1, then covered the plastic with the sculptamold. This is so much faster, and the sculptamold bonds with the bare timber beautifully. It has really sped things up.

Above, you can see how easy this process is. First tape in the plastic, then tape in the paper to provide the landform you want.

Here you can see the surface of the sculptamold. On the left hand side of the roadbed you can see a slightly flat area beside the track, that will be road access to the Station, and then to the left of that, the landform as it falls away to the front of the layout.

All of this process took just on two hours, and you can see that I’ve nearly completed the first module.

From here it is all about waiting. The sculptamold takes ages in the Qld humidity to dry. Just be patient with it, and if you like you can keep working the surface, smoothing off any rough spots fairly easily with a damp finger.

I’m really happy with the profile I’ve created. It seems to work with the contour boards well, and even better with the backscene boards attached.

Next will be a scenic base on all of the white that I’m now faced with, but that will be the next post.

Have a great week,

Ooroo!

Geoff.